Grain-binding harvester



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. L. MILLER.

, GRAIN BINDING HARVESTER.

No. 361,964. Patented Apr. 26, 1887.

Figf

No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

L. MILLER;

GRAIN BINDING HARVESTER.

No. 361,964. Patented Apr. 26, 1887 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS MILLER, OF AKRON, OHIO.

GRAIN-BINDING HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,964, dated April 26, 188']. Application filed February 26, 1884. Serial No. 122,088. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS MILLER, of Akron, county of Summit, State of Ohio, have Invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Binding Harvesters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention relates to a novel constructIon of an inclined elevating and binding table, interposed between the platform-carrier and the main drive-wheel, and upon which the grain is carried upward in the process of bindlog and from which it is discharged upon the outer or stubble side of the wheel by means of Instrumentalities described in Letters Patent granted to me April 24:, 1883, No. 276,448, and December 18, 1883, No. 290,459.

The object of my present invention is mainly to provide theinclined elevating binder-table with a resting place or places for the grain, where the latter may be held while being bound or after being acted upon by one or more of the instrumentalities employed for elevating it 'upon the inclines of the table, and

until the next succeeding instrumentality shall take the grain or the bound bundle and farther elevate or conduct it toward its point of discharge upon the stubble side of the ma chine, and thus relieve the lowermost instrumentalities and the rising grain of the superincumbent weight of the grain which has passed beyond the action of said lowermost instrumentalities.

The improvement consists, essentially, in forming the said binder table, arranged between the platfornrcarrierand main drivewheel, with one or more shelves or levels arranged between the inclined portions of the table, in combination with pickers, gatherers, or conveyers, and with packers and an oscil" lating needle arranged between the table and a knotter-shaft, and knotter mechanism arranged above the table, as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of so much of a grain-binding harvester as is necessary to illustrate my invention; Fig. 2 a transverse section of the same in the line a; a; of Fig. 1, and wherein the binder-table is formed with a single level arranged beneath the knotter-shaft, and Fig. 3

a transverse section similar to that shown in Fig. 2, showing the binder-table formed with three levels or shelves upon which the grain may rest; Fig. 4, a perspective view, de tached, of the table formed with three shelves or levels, as shown in Fig. 3.

The machine in its general arrangement of parts is similar in construction to that described in the patent above referred to, in which the inclined binder-table is interposed between the platform-carrier and the main drive-wheel, the grain being carried upward on said table in the process of being compressed and bound, and from which the bundles are discharged upon the outer or stubble side of the wheel, and it need not, therefore, be herein described further than is necessary to an understanding of my present improve- 70 ments.

The main frame of the harvester is formed of a forward sill or frame-bar, A, firmly con nected through suitable longitudinal bars to a similar sill, A, employed at the rear of the platform, and upon these two sills the inclined binder-frame is supported. The binder-frame consists of the longitudinal frame-bars B B, the former secured directly to the main frame sills A A, contiguous to the inner end of the grain'platform, and the latter supported upon standard-brackets 13*, also secured to the stubble ends of said sills asuitable distance inside the drive-wheel O, and of sufficient height to give the desired angle of inclination to the binder-frame.

,The longitudinal bars B B are connected by transverse bars B bolted to them at sufiieient distance from each other to form a rigid support for the binder-table D. V

The tubular bars B B project forward over the sill A, and are connected at their ends by a frame-plate, 1), upon the lower outer end of which is mounted the adjustable block for the main carrying-wheel axle, and to which is firmly bolted the bindergear standard 0, formed with tubular arms 0 Cflwhich extend, respectively, the one above and the other below the binder-table D. The arm 0 forms hearings to support the needle-shaft E, ar- 10o ranged below the table, and the arm 0 supports the knotter-actuating shaft F,whieh extends above and partly across the bindertable.

A picker-supporting bar, G, and foot-board H are supported by struts g, secured to the sill A of the platform-fran1e, and by tie-rods 9, connected with the binder-gear standard. The bar G projects backward to partly overhang the foot of the binder-platform and supports pendent brackets G, upon which are formed the bearings of a picker-operating crank-shaft,G'-. The picker-shaft is driven by the main binder-gear shaft I, arranged in bearings below the binder-table, and is formed with crank-arms g g 9*, arranged at various angles one with the other, and upon each of which are journaled, intermediately of their length, a series of pickers, which receive mo tion therefrom. The upper end of thepickers are connected by links to brackets y, secured to the bar G, and the lower ends or toothed points of the pickers, because of the crank-movement and linked connections, re ceive a swinging, orbital movement. The packers K K are connected by links k to the binder-frame bars 13 and are operated by cranks on the main binder-gear shaft I, to receive a motion similar to that received by the picker-arms. The packers are supported be low the binder-table, but are moved up through slots in the table to take the grain from the point delivered by the pickers and raise it up to within reach of the needle-arm E and to the place of binding upon the table.

The binder-table is formed, as shown inFig. 2, of four sections, D, D D and D". The section D extends in an inclined plane from a point near the discharge end of the platformcarrier to the place below the knotter-actuating shaft where the bundle is bound. The section D extends in a horizontal plane from the up per end of the section D to the lower end ofa second inclined section, D and is of sufficient width to afford a place of rest for the gavel while it is being bound, and thus relieve the binder mechanism of undue strain during this interval of rest in the upward movement of the grain. The section D extends in an inclined plane to an elevation above the wheel, where it joins with the section D, which is supported in a position at an angle with the section D to extend across the top of the wheel and form a bed over which the bundle may be rolled and delivered to the stubble side of the machine.

The bundle, after being bound, may be raised up over the inclined section D by the ejectorarms M, secured to the k notter-actuating shaft F, and be discharged from the section D by a dischargearm, N, pivoted beneath the'table and connected by means ofa link, n, to the heel end of the needle-guard, as shown in Fig. 2.

The arm N is tilted by the backward movement of the needle-arm, and presses against the bundle to roll it with but slight movement and exertion over the table-section D The shelf -section D may be made narrow and slightly inclined toward the stubble side and rear of the machine, and the ejector-arms M may be of sufficient length to effect the complete discharge of the bundle from the machine after it has been bound, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

A breast-plate, 0, may be suspended from the bar G and tubular arm Ool the gear-standard in an inclined plane above the binder-table. and serves to hold the grain down upon the table. A compressor, P, is pivoted to the hub of the needle-shaft, and acuated by a cam, F, on the main drive-wheel of the knotteractuating shaft. This cam F acts upon a bellcrank lever, P, which. is connected by a link, I, with one end of an arm, P, the opposite end of which issecured to arock-shaft, P. The end of the arm P farthest from therock-shaft I? is connected by a short'link, P", with the heel of the compressor, and the arrangement is such that when a sufficient quantity of grai n to form a bundle is packed between the compressor, breastplate, and table the binder mechanism will be operated to tie the band around the bundle, the compressor P will be drawn below the table from behind the bundle, and the bundle will be lifted by the ejector-arms and discharged from the machine in a well-known manner.

' The bundle will rest securely upon the horizontal section D while it is being bound, and the weight of the grain after it has been elevated, both while being packed and while being bound, will be borne by the table instead of by the binding and packing mechanism.

In Figs. 1, 3, and 4 a shelf, D, is arranged between the horizontal section D and the 0011- veyer-platform at the point where the grain is raised by the pickers or gatherers. An inclined section, D, connects said section D" with the grain-platform, and the inclined section D is shorter than in the first-described table, and connects the shelf D with the horizontal shelf or section D". The shelf D will form a place of lodgment for the grain raised by the pickers or gatherers, which have a continuous and rapid motion, to enable them to take the grain from the platform-carrier as rapidly as it is delivered, and thereby prevent it from choking the movement of the carrier and from being carried under the carrier thereby.

The shelf D will hold a sufficient quantity of grain to supply the packers, and will afford a resting place for it during the interval after it has been acted upon by the pickers and before it is caught by the packers.

Rotary convcyers or endless carriers or gatherers such as I have described in other patents above referred to may be substituted for the pickers herein described, and various changes may be effected in the packers, compressors, ejeotors, and other parts of the binder mechanism without rendering them inapplicable to my invention.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- I 1. In a grain-binding harvester, the combination, with an inclined elevating-table inter- IIO posed between the grain platform or carrier and the driving-wheel, and provided with a horizontal section or shelf on which the grain is bound, of pickers or gatherers arranged to move the grain up the lower end of the inclined table, and packers arranged between the pickers or gatherers and the place of 'binding for taking the grain from said pickers or gatherers, moving it upward on the table to and packing it on the horizontal section or shelf on which it is bound, substantially as described.

2. In a grain-binder, the combination, with the main frame, of the inclined table ,interposed between the end of the grain-platform and the path of the drive-wheel. pickers or gatherers arranged at the foot of said incline, packers arranged intermediately between the pickers and the needlearm, a shelf, D formed in the inclined table and arranged between the pickers or gatherers and the packers, to which the pickers carry the grain and upon which the grain may rest, and inclined sections, one between the shelf D and the conveyer and the other between the shelf and the point of discharge over which the grain may be elevated, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

3. In a grain-binder, the combination, with the main frame of a binder-frame arranged between. the inner end of the grain-platform and the path of the drive-wheel, the packers,

needle-arm, and knotter, of a binder-table formed of a series of inclined sections over which the grain may be elevated, and a ser 1es of horizontal sections or shelves upon which the grain may rest in its passage from the grain-platform to the, top of the drive-wheel.

4. In a grain-binder, the combination, with the main frame of a binder-frame arranged between the inner end of the grain-platform and the path of the drive-wheel, the pickers or gatherers, the packers, needle-arm, and knotter, of a binder-table formcdof a series oi 1nclined sections over which the grain may be elevated,and a series of horizontal sections or shelves upon which the grain may rest in its passage from the grain-platform to the top of the drive-wheel.

5. In a grain-binder, a binder-table composed of inclined sections and horizontal sections or shelves interposed between said inclined sections and joined angularly thereto, said table extending between the inner end of the platform and the path of the drive-wheel, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of January, A. D. 188i.

LEIVIS MILLER.

Witnesses:

O. L. SADLER, E. R. HARPER, J r. 

